Shifts in curriculum across Australia
By Bianka Walsh

Riding the influencer wave: How to get your resources into the hands of Aussie teachers.

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A change is as good as a holiday is an old adage that is often thrown about to encourage refreshment or a change in routine.

There have been many changes to the curriculum across Australia recently, but few would regard them as a holiday.

Change is an undeniable reality in education where the needs of students continually drive innovation. Have you seen information about curriculum reform in the media recently and wondered how it may affect your business and current education programs? Teachers across Australia are currently undertaking or preparing to participate in professional development sessions to ensure they are well informed when it comes to understanding the curriculum changes.

Did you know that not all states in Australia use the Australian Curriculum? Teachers in Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT, use the Australian Curriculum as written by the national curriculum authority. Whereas Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia, use syllabuses written by their curriculum authorities.

In 2008, all governments agreed that a national curriculum was needed across Australia to ensure quality education programs were being delivered. The national curriculum is currently reviewed every 6 years, and the 2020-2021 review resulted in the version which has just been released. The New South Wales Education Standards Authority and Western Australian School Curriculum and Standards Authority have also made recent changes to their curriculum.

Shifts in curriculum across Australia have resulted in several notable changes. While the changes and timelines all vary across each sector, there is a key theme. Some of these changes include reducing the amount of content that needs to be covered in order to teach the curriculum with rigor and depth. There is also a stronger focus on phonics in English and more emphasis on making connections between different areas and skills in mathematics. Additionally, a significant change is the shift towards a digital format for most curriculum information, eliminating the need to print and distribute thousands of syllabus documents across the country. The new curriculum websites enable teachers to quickly and intuitively find relevant information and explore connections between different subject areas. Teachers will get the curriculum directly from the Digital Curriculum website, acting like Google Maps for the classroom, detailing exactly what to teach. Teachers will be forced to continue to embrace technology and use a lot less stationery! These changes aim to make the curriculum more responsive to the needs of today’s students and better prepare them for the future, equipping them with the necessary skills to excel in future job markets that may not even exist yet.

Something all Australians can agree on is that the curriculum needs to be responsive to the needs of today’s students, while preparing them for the future. It should equip them with the necessary skills to excel in jobs that are yet to emerge, encompassing abilities beyond our current imagination.

Is your business looking for support in updating an existing education resource to reflect the curriculum changes? Is your organisation working on a new idea or proposal for schools? Are you overwhelmed when it comes to finding links to the new curriculum? Kimberlin Education is here to help! Classrooms are incredibly busy places, and when new programs and initiatives pop up, teachers are more likely to engage when they can see the cross-curricula links and integration of skills and capabilities. Kimberlin Education has a wealth of experience in linking the curriculum to your exciting ideas. We have been working with a large number of clients to update their existing education resources to reflect the curriculum changes across Australia.

Contact us to discuss how our team of experts can help you today!